I just started listening to the Scot Harvath books, Lions of Lucerne and Path of the Assassin.

Coming off of the Mitch Rapp books which I'm all caught up on, I don't think they're nearly as good. The writing, plot and character development feels like a much lower level.

When Scot says: "I'm going to buy him a one-way ticket to hell, all expenses paid." I thought the book must have been written by a high schooler.

Don't get me wrong, the Scot Harvath books so far are entertaining, but I don't think they're at the level of Mitch Rapp. To be fair, I do think the Kyle Mills books aren't quite as good as Vince Flynn, but not bad.

What do you all think? Is there a book series out there as good as the Mitch Rapp series in the same genre?

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Is there a book series out there as good as the Mitch Rapp series in the same genre?

Take a look at Matthew Reilly's Shane Schofield series. They don't get more "action packed" than those!

Architect

Thanks for the recommendation on Matthew Reilly. I have seen the series but I read a couple of pages off amazon from the book "Scarecrow" and it seems like a good series.

I will definitely check the author out.

I don’t think they get much better than Daniel Silva in this genre, now that Vince Flynn is gone.

BTW, I gave the post-Flynn Mitch Rapp writer, Kyle Mills a try—one book was enough for me.

If you like this type of genre then you should try Mark Greaney's 'The Gray Man' series of books. I started with book 1 based on a recommendation on this forum and I'm now on book 8 of 9 total. They're like an addictive drug, once you start you can't stop.

Jim

" I don’t think they do not get much any better than Daniel Silva in this genre...."

There, fixed it for you - you are welcome.

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Originally posted by redleg2/9:
" I don’t think they do not get much any better than Daniel Silva in this genre...."

There, fixed it for you - you are welcome.

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OK, Thanks

David Baldacci writes some good stuff as well. I’ve read a couple of his series and currently on book 4 of Will Robie series.
Mike

I also preferred Mitch Rapp to Scot Harvath but I’ve still read every novel in the Scot Harvath series.

I enjoy the Will Robie series but Baldacci comes out with a new one too infrequently.

Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series is better than all of the above since he isn’t a one man army who is best in the world at everything he attempts.

IMO, the best of all of this genre is Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series.

I’ve read all of the above so I went back and started reading Parker’s Jesse Stone series (Tom Selleck plays him in made for TV movies) and Spenser series (Robert Ulrich played him in 80s TV show Spenser for Hire). Gave me immediate access to several dozen novels, and both are flawed characters who don’t always win.

I've been reading the Sean Dillon series by Jack Higgins.

I felt like the Flynn's Mitch Rapp series got a little over the top at the end, while the Scott Harvath books improved after the first 3, but they've gone a little sideways recently. In Lee Child's Jack Reacher series he seems to be almost mocking his readers these days. I agree Daniel Silva"s Gabriel Allon is among the best, most consistently written series. Greeney's Grey Man is just fun and written well enough . One of my recent favorites is Terry Hayes' I Am Pilgrim.

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Originally posted by ptruck:
I've been reading the Sean Dillon series by Jack Higgins.

After I had read every Clancy novel, I was in the airport book store and saw Clancy's blurb on a Higgins cover saying Higgins is the master. The early Higgins novels set in WWII were excellent, and the early Sean Dillon novels were excellent then transitioned to mediocre reading that got me through a plane flight. I can't remember which novel it was in the Dillon series where Higgins completely jumped the shark and I couldn't bring myself to read another one.

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Originally posted by jigray3:
One of my recent favorites is Terry Hayes' I Am Pilgrim.

Isn’t Hayes a member of the forum or am I thinking of the wrong author/series?

Terry hayes i am pilgrim is a fantastic and well written book.

The grey man, evan smoak, and reacher are ok. Solid easy reading.

Walt longmire books are far better.

I’ve also enjoyed Brad Taylor’s Pike Logan/Taskforce series. Good easy read, good characters, and some snarky humor

The Master and Commander series, read by Patrick Tull, are outstanding. While he takes far longer to read the story, nuances of description capture your imagination like no other reader.

Totally agree with the OP that Scot Harvath is almost cartoonish: He's a former SEAL, he skydives, he scuba dives, he climbs mountains, he can do ANYTHING. And oh yeah, he's on the presidential protection detail.

Mitch Rapp is a better developed character, his motivation and drive come from losing his girlfriend.

I just read my first Grey Man book, and he's sort of a vicious Mitch Rapp on steroids. In this book he was too perfect, one man taking on hit team after hit team.

Going back to Tom Clancy, I always liked the way he developed John Clark; Tough and focused, but not superhuman.

I'm going to take kind of the opposite tack. Yes, Harvath is a very multi-talented guy, but skydiving and scuba diving are things that pretty much all SEALS do as a matter of course. The mountain climbing part, I don't know about. And yeah, also being Secret Service is stretching it a little. But IMO he's still a lot more believable than John Rambo, yes a Green Beret (i.e., Infantry) but also qualified to drive tanks and fly helicopters. Talk about over-the-top (no pun intended)!

The Mitch Rapp stories on the other hand, seems to have fallen into a pattern. He splits his time between fighting the Arab terrorist du jour and dodging corrupt politicians who want to shut him down for various reasons. I really liked the earlier books in that series, but the later ones have become kind of ho-hum (with the exception of a couple of the 'prequel' ones, e.g., American Assassin).

I haven't looked at the Gray Man or some others that have been listed here, but I do agree that the Gabriel Allon series is one of the best. The Jack Reacher stories took a while to grown on me, but they've become some of my favorites now too.